{"id":669345,"date":"2026-10-30T00:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669345\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T00:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:14:19","slug":"mary-osullivan-on-celebrating-limerick-through-her-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/669345\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary O’Sullivan on celebrating Limerick through her designs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Ryan speaks to Limerick designer Mary O’Sullivan about immortalising Irish locations through heritage techniques, and how her daughter became her ‘why’. <\/p>\n

You may have already seen O’Sullivan’s regal designs, from the breathtaking green column dress worn by Limerick Rose for 2025 Leah McMahon, to Roz Purcell, who strode down the runway at the Ireland Fashion Week ‘Irish Roots’ show this year in a corseted mini dress emblazoned with sights from across Ireland.<\/p>\n

What unites these designs is O’Sullivan’s reimagining of a classic textile design: toile de jouy, an 18th-century technique featuring bucolic scenes printed on linen or cotton in shades of blue or deep red.<\/p>\n

A highly fashionable choice for aristocratic interiors, as historian Laura Fitzachary writes<\/a>, it was championed by Marie Antoinette and Empress Josephine.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/p>\n

But O’Sullivan’s version is decidedly for a different kind of fashion lover: the kind that sees romance in a perfect pint, who loves a visit to Costello’s pub in Limerick City, who might wear a silk scarf with their trackies, and who deeply values the work of homegrown creators.<\/p>\n

She is one of a number of Irish designers making waves in the fashion industry, both at home and abroad, signalling a future of innovation and a unique visual language that draws from our history.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RT\u00c9 Lifestyle, O’Sullivan says, “The people who kind of resonate with my work are the people who appreciate craft and appreciate the technical ability behind my work, the boning, the internal corsetry, really good fit. They want to feel good in their pieces, but they also love the storytelling aspect of the pieces and the connection to our heritage and to our place.”<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan has, she says, “always been super into history; I’ve always loved art history. I am a fan and a student of those”.<\/p>\n

She explains that her love for Toile de Jouy came about accidentally, when she spotted it in Adare Manor, where her mam worked, when she was 12. “That print just kind of made an impression on me and came out through my work then years later”, she says.<\/p>\n

“It’s a testament to, like, exposing your children to as many new experiences as possible, because again, you don’t know what’s going to stick, you don’t know what they’re going to love and what they’re not going to love.”<\/p>\n

\"Roz
\nRoz Purcell wearing a Mary O’Sullivan design. Photo: Guilherme Resende & Edgar Camargo<\/p>\n

Having featured prominently during Ireland Fashion Week earlier this month, O’Sullivan knew it was time to expand her business from bespoke designs and limited edition prints to a ready-to-wear collection, which launched a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

O’Sullivan says doing so was a way to let clients reach her work “in a more accessible way”.<\/p>\n

“With the bespoke side of my work, I really could only take on one client at a time because my business, it is just me. I’m at the sewing machine. I can’t take on 50 clients at a time and also be a present mom and have a life and keep the wheels of life turning.”<\/p>\n

Central to that new collection of mini dresses, skirts and more was the Cities of Ireland print, that enshrined sights like Dublin’s Poolbeg chimneys and Galway’s Spanish Arch in O’Sullivan’s old world fabric.<\/p>\n

\"Backstage
\nMary, Lily and model Marwa Noelle at Ireland Fashion Week. Photo: Guilherme Resende & Edgar Camargo<\/p>\n

“There’s that connection piece as well”, she tells me. “If you’re wearing the Cities of Ireland print, your grandfather may have painted the Poolbeg chimneys, or you may have gone for college nights out by the Spanish Arch in Galway.”<\/p>\n

Connection is a core part of O’Sullivan’s work, whether it’s reconnecting with her own environment, or helping clients at home and abroad do the same. She recalls that the original Limerick toile de jouy was created during one of the Covid-19 lockdowns, saying: “I suppose in a way I was fulfilling a need for community and connection in myself when I was creating them.”<\/p>\n

\n

I wonder how that fabric, and the enthusiastic response, has changed how she sees her city?<\/p>\n

“Firstly, it’s making obvious to the people of Limerick some of the best parts of Limerick”, she says. “And it’s like we have this tendency in Irish culture, like anything that’s good about us, we kind of tend to put it down.<\/p>\n

“We don’t want to have notions. which can be a double-edged sword because then it’s like, okay, well, if we don’t want to have a bit of pride in ourselves, then how do we have pride in our place and in ourselves and our own accomplishments?”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

She continues: “Limerick is a city that… there has been outdated stereotypes of the city that [have] been held to the city and the people for far too long, when it’s not the case anymore.”<\/p>\n

“I think the print has kind of helped people; it’s renewed their pride in place in that way, and it’s allowed for them to show that pride in a very tangible and real way that they can point to and be like, that’s my city, that’s what I connect with, this is some of the best parts.”<\/p>\n

\"Mary
\nMary and Lily at Ireland Fashion Week. Photo: Romina Introini @romilux<\/p>\n

Running a business as just one designer is certainly taxing, something O’Sullivan doesn’t shy away from, but she cites one very important motivating factor: her daughter Lily.<\/p>\n

“On the bad days, I look at my daughter, and I’m like, she’s my why, you know? She’s the reason why I get up, and I do insane hours to finish a project in order to pay the bills. But then, on the best days as well, she’s again the person that I look to when I see and, oh my God, this is, you know, seeing her joy.”<\/p>\n

“By working as hard as I do, it’s allowing us to have a life and pay the bills and take the weekend off and go to the beach with her or have those moments.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlotte Ryan speaks to Limerick designer Mary O’Sullivan about immortalising Irish locations through heritage techniques, and how her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-669345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}